Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
fathers club at elementary school	tfriedmann	12/06/03
a few father at my child's school are trying to form a "dad's club". our plan is to get together with our kids and spend time playing/learning, but mostly just have fun. so far we are planning open gym time, which has already been scheduled for his month on a friday after work. some of the other ideas that came up were trips to local museums,(air force museum is local and free admission) historic tours of our city(ie. local inventions and landmarks)picnics or cookouts with games, (weather permitting),walk-a-thon on local bikepaths, a movie night at the school. my question is does anyone have past experience trying this sort of thing? what other ideas had the most success for your group? what problems did your group encounter, if any? how did you fund your activities in your group? we are starting out as inexpensive as we can till we get going then i'm sure we are going to have to come up with some sort of funding (probably our pockets) any ideas would be a great help thanks
Answered By		Answered On
CeeBee		12/06/03
My experience is being a den mother for six years and planning programs for two years at a public library. What about finding free speakers? 1. a local vet to talk about some aspect of animal care and training 2. a banker to talk about bank services (greatly simplified, of course) and/or a dad-son workshop on keeping a (fake sample) checkbook and how to balance it 3. a minister to take everyone on a tour of his church and tell why things are where they are in the chancel and sacristy, about the stained glass windows and why they exist, etc. -- even visit a synagogue or mosque (can you tell I'm a minister's kid???) 4. a session on how to sew on buttons or make simple repairs (hemming, for instance) -- amazing how many males don't know this -- equipment would be inexpensive and easy to obtain also: 5. break up into small groups and put on short plays for each other (be sure to visit the public library for help and talk to a children's librarian -- maybe have themes like environmental concerns, travel destinations, a fictional story, comedy routine, etc.) 6. cooking simple things like personal pizzas (flatten a refrigerator biscuit and add pizza sauce and various toppings) or bake cookies or make fudge (the easy kind with marshmallow fluff or with condensed milk) 7. make simple Christmas ornaments (one the Scouts did at a den meeting was blow up small balloons, wrap with yarn, carefully cover with spray starch, allow to dry, pop balloon, and voila! an ornament) for a Christmas tree or display of some sort that can be put up in an area nursing home or hospital (with permission, of course) 8. visit a nursing home (after giving explicit conduct instructions and info as to what the group will see) -- even do a performance, group singing, etc. 9. an art session -- try out watercolors or oils on small canvasses, have a theme such as "trees" or "my family" -- maybe even invite a local artist or high school art teacher to give tips and hints and helps 10. discuss leaves/bark/trees and local animals (someone would have to research ahead of time and lead this one), then go for a walk in the neighborhood and list what is seen. The main thing this dad-son effort should accomplish is for the two to interact by doing fun and practical things together. Reaching out into the community to use its resources and finding ways to give back to the community are also part of the effort.

Additional Options and ratings are only visible when you login!